Full Moon in Aquarius: The Blessing of Detachment

 

Art by Sonal Poghat

Full Moon in Aquarius:  The Blessing of Detachment

Moon opposite Sun- 7/23/21 @ 9:36pm CDT

 

This Blessing Moon shines full in Aquarius, which is Saturn’s diurnal expression.  Saturn is also co-present in this sign, where Saturn and Moon will meet the following day.  Saturn in Aquarius holds a very objective view of the future, and one that focuses on the work required for the greater good instead of how such responsibility may feel to each of us on a personal level.  It is both humanitarian and relatively detached from human drama all at once.  So Saturn Retrograde is informing this Aquarius Moon with his plans for reconstruction of Humanity’s systems, while Moon illuminates the needs of the community. 

 

While not all of us with Aquarius planets are so detached and objective (you really have to take the whole natal chart into account), this particular time in our lunar cycle has that underlying signature.  The Air element, thus intellect and discussion, is highlighted through a Grand Trine with Libra Vesta and Gemini Persephone.  So while the Air element does tend to bring people together through relating and communicating, it operates on the mental plane…which often works to distinguish one thing from another to describe a concept clearly.  The amplification of Air at this time suggests an ability for each of us to reach a point of clarity about what began in the dark of the New Moon two weeks ago. 

 

'Vesta' by Pamela Matthews

These asteroids, Vesta and Persephone, represent two mythic storylines where detachment for the greater good also plays a key role.  Vesta, named after the Goddess of the Hearth, is Keeper of the Sacred Flame…her Vestal Priestesses tasked with the responsibility of tending the Sacred Flame of the community.  In dedication to her Sacred Work, Vesta willingly chose to remain chaste…detached from the pursuit of Gods like Apollo and Neptune.  The Latin word for Hearth is ‘Focus’…and Vesta shows where focus and dedication is needed.  In Libra, this focus is on maintaining balance in one-on-one relationships…but Vesta brings a more platonic focus to our relations.  Echoing the call of Venus, who recently moved into Virgo, Vesta asks us to consider relating with each other through acts of service. 

 

'Hades and Persephone' by Sandara

Persephone, named after the Queen of the Underworld, is another Goddess with a rich storyline. And while her abduction by Hades (Pluto) is a well-known part of her story (which relates to the later patriarchal takeover of the Great Mother’s rulership over death and rebirth), it is a reframing that happened later.  As Demetra George notes in her book ‘Finding Our Way Through the Dark’:  “In the Pre-Hellenic version of her myth, Persephone voluntarily went into the Underworld for part of each year to tend to the dead.” 

 

Persephone’s significance in this Grand Trine, and through Gemini, brings up her conscious choice to move across the threshold (a sacred object of Vesta’s) from maidenhood to her womanhood as Queen of the Dead…which necessitated that she be an integral part of two worlds.  In each story, Vesta and Persephone chose to become what was needed for the greater good…by their own volition.  This suggests that one of the amplified themes of this Full Moon is about making a conscious choice that takes us beyond our personal experience to serve a greater goal. 

 

This call to step beyond the ‘why me?’ and just choose to do the hard work required of each of us is also indicated by Sun’s conjunction to Psyche in Leo.  This conjunction is the fiery anchor point of the airy flow of the Grand Trine, creating a Kite pattern and suggesting that there is more opportunity to use the trines in a beneficial way. 

 

Art by John William Waterhouse

The Asteroid Psyche, which I refer to as the ‘Mind of the Soul’, is intricately tied to her lover Eros (which I call the ‘Heart of the Soul’) in their mythic storyline.  There is a separation…a detachment…involved in their story too, where Psyche must complete some seemingly impossible tasks so that she may be reunited with her love.  This separation resulted from her own choice to reveal the true identity of her lover, Eros.  And while ‘the path of true love never did run smooth’ (as Puck says in ‘Midsummer’), Psyche’s choice led to her becoming who she was meant to be (just as it was for Vesta and Persephone).  It seems The Heroine’s Journey is written all over this Full Moon.

 

And to bring it all back around to Moon in Aquarius, this Moon is also tightly conjunct Chariklo (in the same degree of Aquarius).  Chariklo is the largest body classified as a Centaur, whose orbit moves between Saturn and Uranus without moving beyond the orbital paths of those planets.  As her name means ‘Graceful Spinner’, she represents the graceful enforcement of boundaries.  Her unique rings indicate the ability to uphold personal boundaries while her dance between Saturn and Uranus indicates respect for other’s boundaries. 

 

Art by John La Farge

As the loving and supportive wife of Chiron, Chariklo went from nymph to what some have called ‘Lady Shaman’ in her mythic storyline…in some accounts even transforming into a centaur through this marriage.  One of her significations is the ability to hold space for others through any process of transition or transformation.  She was a midwife to the healing process of her husband as well as a midwife for others through birth, death, and all Rites of Passage in between.  She creates a container of grace in which the difficult, but necessary, work can be done.  And while she is known for her compassionate care, she also employs some amount of detachment so that she can hold this kind of space for the larger process that needs to take place. 

 

The Full Moon reflects Chariklo’s graceful enforcement of boundaries so that we may all be held in that safe container as we make our individual choices now…to heal, to step up to our challenges, and to become what calls us beyond the Self. 

 

Love and Gratitude,

Felina Lune Kavi